Popular Science Presentations

One of the greatest challenges for humanity is to meet the increasing energy needs of today and the future, without negative climate impact and depletion of the earth's natural resources. The department is therefore conducting extensive research on renewable energy generation. How we, through new technology, would best utilize the renewable energy in the water, from the sun and the wind.

Wave power

One of society's biggest challenges is how to secure the future energy supply in a sustainable and secure way. Ocean waves have the potential to contribute to a significant part of the world's electricity generation.

Uppsala University is a world leader in wave research and has the largest research group in the field.

The group's research facility outside Lysekil on the west coast is one of the few research facilities in the world for full-scale wave power plants in real offshore environments.

Read more about our Lysekil wave power project

Wind power

An increased global electricity demand, together with concerns about declining non-renewable energy sources and climate change, has led society to focus its interest on alternative energy sources. Producing electricity from the wind's energy produces no emissions and consumes no fuel.

At Uppsala University we mainly study vertical shaft wind turbines, where the blades rotate around a vertical axis, unlike conventional wind turbines where the blades rotate horizontally.

Read more about our research on vertical axis wind turbines

The rapid development of micro and nanotechnology has meant many applications that make it easier for us; who does not have a "smartphone" today, which we can hardly be without? But the technology can also be used in other areas such as health. At the department, research is conducted on several health-related projects where the technology is used to improve or create entirely new applications.

Durable joint implants

A risk with hip arthroplasty is that the abrasive particles generated in the joint are collected between the body's bone tissue and the implant itself. These particles can cause inflammation, which over time leads to the bone tissue being restored and the implant loosens. We develop a durable surface layer of ceramic thin film that limits the problem in several ways. First, the wear itself decreases. Second, the body can break down the few abrasive particles that are formed after all, so that they do not have time to cause inflammation. Third, the thin film prevents metal ions from the implant's main structure from leaking into the body.

Cellulose virus filter

Nanocellulose has about 100 times more surface area per unit weight than ordinary paper. It opens opportunities to develop new materials for medicine and health. Among other things, the cellulose is used for virus filtration by tailoring the distribution of the pore size of a paper filter. Virus particles are about a thousand as thin as a strand of hair which makes them very difficult to remove by filtration. One ambition is to develop a paper filter that filters out viruses "as easily as brewing coffee". The filter is adapted for both medical use and water purification where viruses are a major problem.

Measure the healing process with microwaves

Many children are born today with not fully developed skulls. Surgeons can then repair the skull with an implant. Unfortunately, the healing process must be checked at regular intervals to avoid complications, which is quite expensive and complicated today. Researchers at the department have therefore developed a sensor that can continuously measure the healing process with the help of microwaves. The sensor is made of flexible material and is therefore easy to carry. The new sensor makes life much easier for both patient and physician.

Want to learn more about our research on smart technology for better health?

Visit the Division of Solid-State Electronics

There is a great interest in reducing emissions from the aviation sector and contributing to more sustainable aviation. An estimate is that the aviation sector globally is behind approximately 3% of global emissions. Therefore, they are now starting to investigate new types of flights that can contribute to reduced emissions. Already today there are small electric flights for a few passengers. In the future, there may be more electric flights for passengers that can be charged at airports.

New types of aircraft are also being studied, for example, vertical take-off electric flights, so-called eVTOLs. Other types of electric vehicles will also need to be charged at airports. This contributes to an increased need for electricity. Electric vehicles at airports may require fast charging with high outputs over a short period to be able to run again soon. The electricity supply at airports can come from the main electric grid and can perhaps also be supplemented with local battery storage.

This is studied within the research project YourFlight which is a research collaboration between Skellefteå City Airport and Uppsala University and which is funded by the Swedish Transport Administration. The project includes, for example, modelling, literature studies, and experimental work. The goal is to conduct experiments with battery storage at the airport in Skellefteå to see if it can contribute to a good electricity supply.

Doctoral student Martin Lindberg at the Department of Electrical Engineering, Uppsala University, is doing research within the YourFlight project and answers some questions about his work (date: 30 October 2024, translated from Swedish to English):

What is your current research about?

Right now I'm looking at what electric planes are being designed and how much charging capacity they will need. I am also working on a presentation for an international conference which is now taking place in the autumn.

Tell us more about that international conference you are going to in the fall of 2024, what will you present there?

There is a conference on the electrification of transport that takes place in Naples at the end of November. I will present a work I did where I designed a network of flight routes with electric aircraft in northern Scandinavia starting at Skellefteå Airport. I have since looked at the electricity demand that network would give rise to for Skellefteå Airport.

Has anything you discovered in the research on electric flight and electrification at airports been particularly interesting?

What I reacted to the most is how far development has come and how global it is. There are an incredible number of ongoing projects around the world where they are developing different types of electric aircraft.

Do you have any tips for someone who would like to become a PhD student in electrical engineering?

Apply! The work environment in the department is very positive and familiar, and you have incredibly good opportunities to develop as a person and contribute to development within society. If you find a position in an area that interests you, don't hesitate. Apply for it! You will not be disappointed.

If you want to know more about the YourFlight project, please contact martin.lindberg@angstrom.uu.se and jennifer.leijon@angstrom.uu.se

New technology contributes to the goal that future electric and hybrid flights can take off in the coming years. Innovation and development are ongoing and contribute to moving the research front forward. Within the framework of the iFED-UU research project, how new technology and innovation can contribute to the development towards a more sustainable electrified flight and the electrification of airports is investigated. The electricity supply at airports and the operation of new types of aircraft must be reliable, even if something unexpected happens. The transport systems and energy systems therefore need to be both resilient and robust. This relates to the systems should be able to function well even in the event of an unexpected external impact, such as a natural disaster.

The iFED-UU project is financed by the Resilient Competence Center, which is a collaboration between several different higher education institutions and is coordinated by Mälardalen University. Research projects that aim to study how energy systems can become more resilient in the future gather within the Resilient Competence Centre.

The PhD student Daniel Buvarp at the Department of Electrical Engineering, Uppsala University, works within the research project iFED-UU on resilient electrification of aviation at national airports and answers some questions (answers 31 October 2024, translated to English):

What type of technology development do you think can contribute to us seeing more electric flights in the air in the future?

Above all, batteries and charging. Batteries are getting better all the time, and can now store twice as much energy as a few years ago, without getting heavier. Charging is a major challenge, and new infrastructure solutions will be required for the electric aircraft of the future.

You have presented a conference paper at an international conference on mobile charging stations at airports, what is it really about?

It is a proposed solution for some of the challenges surrounding charging infrastructure for electric aircraft. With a battery-powered mobile charging station on wheels, you don't need to build as many fixed charging stations, and the load on the electricity grid is reduced. In addition, resilience increases because the electric aircraft can be charged even in the event of a power cut.

What kinds of new flights do you hope we will see in say 15 years?

At the end of the 2030s, I think it will be possible to travel with electric passenger flights between several cities in Sweden and Europe, and it will initially be about slightly shorter distances. One difference, I think, may be that some journeys that today would be carried out by bus, train or ferry may be carried out by electric flights instead.

If you want to know more about the iFED-UU project, please contact daniel.buvarp@angstrom.uu.se and jennifer.leijon@angstrom.uu.se